The Youth Ministry Vacuum
It happens too often. I visit a local church or ministry and there is an issue that someone (or a group of someones) wants to deal with.
Inevitably someone says one of these things:
"I don't have any kids in the youth ministry, but I can tell it's struggling. Attendance is low and it needs to be like it was when my kids were teens. What is the youth pastor going to do about this?
or
"We have plenty of children in early elementary, why don't we have more kids in the youth group?"
or
"Our kids aren't committed to the church. How can we get the kids to be more committed to coming to youth group?"
or
"We need more adult leaders in the youth ministry. The youth pastor needs to do a better job of recruiting volunteers to take care of these kids. Why won't she do it?"
All questions (or varients of them) that I hear often.
Here are some questions I ask instead:
Is it possible the fact that the Pastor and Youth Pastor who left to start our church taking 80% of the families with teens has had an impact on our current situation and that it has little to do with our current youth pastor's performance?
How does this church show that it values teenagers?
Why would a youth want to come to this particular church?
Does the fact that the average age of the congregation and it's leadership is over 65 years of age have anything to do with the youth ministry? If so what?
Youth ministry doesn't exist in a vacuum. In fact, I'd suggest that in most cases it is a prime way gauge the temperature of a congregation.
Everything decision in the church has in impact on the Youth ministry in one way or another. It can never be a department on its own, youth ministry must be a concerted effort on behalf of the whole congregation. Often the problems that arise from within a youth ministry are symptoms of a church issue.
So the next time you point at a problem within your churches, take a step back and see if what might be a few of the contributing factors to making it that way.
By the way, this is not a ticket for youth pastors to whine or complain about why their church sucks and is keeping the youth pastor from accomplishing great things. Don't be a victim. As the youth pastor, your job is to lead the congregation to understand the impact of it's decisions upon the youth ministry.
Inevitably someone says one of these things:
"I don't have any kids in the youth ministry, but I can tell it's struggling. Attendance is low and it needs to be like it was when my kids were teens. What is the youth pastor going to do about this?
or
"We have plenty of children in early elementary, why don't we have more kids in the youth group?"
or
"Our kids aren't committed to the church. How can we get the kids to be more committed to coming to youth group?"
or
"We need more adult leaders in the youth ministry. The youth pastor needs to do a better job of recruiting volunteers to take care of these kids. Why won't she do it?"
All questions (or varients of them) that I hear often.
Here are some questions I ask instead:
Is it possible the fact that the Pastor and Youth Pastor who left to start our church taking 80% of the families with teens has had an impact on our current situation and that it has little to do with our current youth pastor's performance?
How does this church show that it values teenagers?
Why would a youth want to come to this particular church?
Does the fact that the average age of the congregation and it's leadership is over 65 years of age have anything to do with the youth ministry? If so what?
Youth ministry doesn't exist in a vacuum. In fact, I'd suggest that in most cases it is a prime way gauge the temperature of a congregation.
Everything decision in the church has in impact on the Youth ministry in one way or another. It can never be a department on its own, youth ministry must be a concerted effort on behalf of the whole congregation. Often the problems that arise from within a youth ministry are symptoms of a church issue.
So the next time you point at a problem within your churches, take a step back and see if what might be a few of the contributing factors to making it that way.
By the way, this is not a ticket for youth pastors to whine or complain about why their church sucks and is keeping the youth pastor from accomplishing great things. Don't be a victim. As the youth pastor, your job is to lead the congregation to understand the impact of it's decisions upon the youth ministry.
Labels: Systems Thinking, youth ministry
posted by mark at
2:30 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks for helping me think about this.
YYEESS! I once sat down with my s.p. and heard him suggest that the entire church attendance was suffering because the attendance in youth ministry was down. While there may be some truth in this, it seemed really backwards to me. I so see youth ministry as one aspect of whole church ministry.
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